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Video: Why Play a Strad?

Hear The New York Philharmonic This Week, Thursday at 8:00 PM

International violin soloist Leonidas Kavakos catches his breath when he glances at the instrument. Built by Antonio Stradivari in the northern Italian town of Cremona, Kavakos’ 1724 fiddle is among five hundred or so Stradivari violins known to have survived to the present day. Some of them with price tags of $3,000,000 or more, the Strad’s je ne sais quoi—it’s power, it’s presence, it’s brilliance—make it one of the most prized musical instruments anywhere.

Hear Kavakos play the concerto by Erich Korngold on the next broadcast of the New York Philharmonic.